The disclosure relates generally to a wireless distribution system (WDS), and more particularly to techniques for partitioning time-division-based communications links within the WDS.
Wireless customers are increasingly demanding digital data services, such as streaming video signals. At the same time, some wireless customers use their wireless communication devices in areas that are poorly serviced by conventional cellular networks, such as inside certain buildings or areas where there is little cellular coverage. One response to the intersection of these two concerns has been the use of WDS. WDS include remote units configured to receive and transmit communications signals to client devices within the antenna range of the remote units. WDSs can be particularly useful when deployed inside buildings or other indoor environments where the wireless communication devices may not otherwise be able to effectively receive radio frequency (RF) signals from a source.
In this regard, FIG. 1 illustrates distribution of communications services to remote coverage areas 100(1)-100(N) of a WDS 102, wherein ‘N’ is the number of remote coverage areas. These communications services can include cellular services, wireless services, such as RF identification (RFID) tracking, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), local area network (LAN), and wireless LAN (WLAN), wireless solutions (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Global Positioning System (GPS) signal-based, and others) for location-based services, and combinations thereof, as examples. The remote coverage areas 100(1)-100(N) may be remotely located. In this regard, the remote coverage areas 100(1)-100(N) are created by and centered on remote units 104(1)-104(N) connected to a head-end equipment (HEE) 106 (e.g., a head-end controller, a head-end unit, or a central unit). The HEE 106 may be communicatively coupled to a first signal source 108, for example, a base transceiver station (BTS) and/or a baseband unit (BBU).
In this regard, the HEE 106 receives first downlink communications signals 110D from the first signal source 108 to be distributed to the remote units 104(1)-104(N). The remote units 104(1)-104(N) are configured to receive the first downlink communications signals 110D from the HEE 106 over a communications medium 112 to be distributed to the respective remote coverage areas 100(1)-100(N) of the remote units 104(1)-104(N). In a non-limiting example, the communications medium 112 is a wired communications medium, a wireless communications medium, or an optical fiber-based communications medium. Each of the remote units 104(1)-104(N) may include an RF transmitter/receiver (not shown) and a respective antenna 114(1)-114(N) operably connected to the RF transmitter/receiver to wirelessly distribute the communications services to client devices 116 within the respective remote coverage areas 100(1)-100(N). The remote units 104(1)-104(N) are also configured to receive first uplink communications signals 110U from the client devices 116 in the respective remote coverage areas 100(1)-100(N) to be distributed to the first signal source 108. The size of each of the remote coverage areas 100(1)-100(N) is determined by amount of RF power transmitted by the respective remote units 104(1)-104(N), receiver sensitivity, antenna gain, and RF environment, as well as by RF transmitter/receiver sensitivity of the client devices 116. The client devices 116 usually have a fixed maximum RF receiver sensitivity, so that the above-mentioned properties of the remote units 104(1)-104(N) mainly determine the size of the respective remote coverage areas 100(1)-100(N).
With continuing reference to FIG. 1, the HEE 106 may be further coupled to a second signal source 118, for example, an Ethernet hub. In this regard, the HEE 106 receives second downlink communications signals 120D from the second signal source 118 to be distributed to the remote units 104(1)-104(N). The remote units 104(1)-104(N) are also be configured to distribute second uplink communications signals 120U to the second signal source 118. In this regard, the communications medium 112 is configured to communicate the first downlink communications signals 110D, the first uplink communications signals 110U, the second downlink communications signals 120D, and the second uplink communications signals 120U based on a time-division scheme. As such, it may be desired that the overall capacity (e.g., bandwidth) of the communications medium 112 needs to be properly divided to optimize overall performance of the WDS 102. Although communication protocols, such as the common public radio interface (CPRI) protocol, can be configured to partition the communications medium 112 between the first downlink communications signals 110D and the second downlink communications signals 120D, it is only possible to allocate certain capacity (e.g., up to three hundred megabits per second (300 Mbps)) to the second downlink communications signals 120D.
With continuing reference to FIG. 1, the overall capacity of the communications medium 112 needs to be properly divided between the first downlink communications signals 110D and the second downlink communications signals 120D to optimize overall performance of the WDS 102. For example, if the overall capacity of the communications medium 112 is ten gigabits per second (10 Gbps), it may be possible to allocate seven gigabits per second (7 Gbps) capacity to the first downlink communications signals 110D, two point nine gigabits per second (2.9 Gbps) capacity to the second downlink communications signals 120D, and the remaining zero point one gigabits per second (0.1 Gbps) capacity to other type of communications signals (e.g., management and control signals). It is also desirable to divide the overall capacity of the communications medium 112 based on actual characteristics (e.g., traffic volume) of the first downlink communications signals 110D, the second downlink communications signals 120D, the first uplink communications signals 110U, and the second uplink communications signals 120U, thus maximizing the overall performance of the WDS 102.
No admission is made that any reference cited herein constitutes prior art. Applicant expressly reserves the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of any cited documents.